Going a bit far with pronoun usage again

[Silver]

Railway company apologises to non-binary passenger for "Ladies and Gentlemen" greeting
gaytimes.co.uk

While commuting on the LNER, Laurence Coles, a train guard and LGBTQ+ rep for the RMT union, became uncomfortable after the conductor used the gender-exclusive phrase.

Taking to Twitter, Coles expressed their disappointment for the employee’s language.

“‘Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls….’So as a non-binary person, this announcement doesn’t actually apply to me so I won’t listen,” they tweeted.

[Rev. Rye]

I can only assume that they'd really be alienated if they had to spend some time with Dr. Weird.

[zwanzig]

There has to be a balance somewhere. Like, respectful and compassionate on both sides. Getting upset over a neutral address to a crowd is not compassionate.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Clearly, this train conductor has a deep-seated animosity towards the non-binary.

I thought maybe the greeting could be changed to, 'Good afternoon, everyone', but the '...one' might cause offense to people with multiple personalities.

Fuxxake, people. Lighten up and take the thought for the deed.

Boru

[ignoramus]

Doesn't "Dear Sirs/and/or/Madams" cover just about everyone.

[brewer]

You can never tell when butt hurt will raise it's whatever.

[Irreligious Atheist]

Theybies and gentlethem, zees and zirs.

My teenage daughter thinks they might be non-binary and is starting to think about these things, and that's cool with me. The loud activists who get the most attention and want to silence everyone else are real pieces of work, but the average trans and NB person is cool.

[The Grand Nudger]

I suspect that Normal Stuff™ sounds different to people who are not a part of the normal that society is organized around. When we think of a future world where people are making us uncomfortable with their casual wokeness and pronoun use...weeeeeeell...we're probably feeling something like what those people are feeling now.

We're getting awfully vocal about it as we tell them to shut up. Should be instructive.

[Peebothuhlu]

At work.

*Raises hand*

Okay. As some one born somewhat closer to the middle of last century than this one.

Could some younger forum member explain to me the ins and outs/proper meaning of "Non binary"?

'People batting for the same team' I get.

People who understand themselves to be different on the insides than their outsides and adjust things to match I grok.

It's this 'Non.binary' term I'm not quite up to date with yet.

Thanks.

[The Grand Nudger]

Gender binary is the assumption that people are one of two genders. Non binary is nonconformity to that assumption.

Think -a boy who identifies as a girl but not as female - a girl who identifies as a boy but not as male. Slide these terms around into any respective slot, vary degrees of certainty or disparity. The list, as you might imagine, could be endless - since there are many more than two ways of seeing one's self. Any personal apprehension of gender that doesn't neatly fall exclusively into the binary camps.